Jail violations demand comprehensive response

Though officials insist that many shortcomings have been corrected, the troubling images that came out of the jail cannot be shrugged off.

On Saturday, there they were on the front page of the Caller-Times,
in full color and stark detail: photos taken of the Nueces County Jail
depicting all manner of flaws and faults not calculated to sit well
even with those who tend to be unsympathetic to the inmate
population.

The images were not necessarily on a par with what you might find in
Third World lockups, but neither were they the sort of thing calculated
to make Nueces County residents - not to mention the officials
responsible for running the jail - feel proud.

Among other things, the distinctly unflattering photos taken during
an inspection by the U.S. Marshals Service showed shower areas caked
with mold, exposed and potentially dangerous electrical wiring, blocked
toilets, peeling paint, and inmates sleeping on thin pads rather than
mattresses.

This story has generated interest well beyond the bounds of Nueces
County - and it definitely does not respresent the kind of publicity
local interests are likely to welcome.

For one, Nicole Porter, the director of the Texas American Civil
Liberties Union Prison and Jail Accountability Project, said the
pullout of federal prisoners from the Nueces County Jail "raises a flag
as to whether or not our jail standards in Texas are meeting a
community standard of care."

In recent days, numerous cosmetic fixes have been applied, and no
doubt some of the problems have been resolved.

However, the larger and most troubling issues remain. The feds don't
pull their prisoners out of a facility, occasioning all the expense and
effort involved in relocating them to other lock-ups in the area,
unless they have some compelling reason to do so.

Clearly, conditions at the jail were far short of the mark. Just as
clearly, the county still has plenty of corrective action to take
before this facility can be considered satisfactory.

Since the story first broke, there has been a flurry of
finger-pointing and recriminations, with defenders of the jail
administration insisting the shortcomings were mostly cosmetic and have
been addressed.

Others, however, still remain to be convinced on that score.

Clearly, Nueces County officials at all levels must continue to give
this issue top priority - and the knowledge that U.S. District Judge
Janis Jack has taken a personal interest in the unfolding saga should
help to concentrate their minds on the obvious and urgent need to clean
up the mess.